SLASH answered a couple more questions for fans, but there may not be
many more for quite some time due to his work schedule. Enjoy these!
Simrin writes, "I'm in England (your biggest fan there)and a few years
ago, I was listening to XFM, one of the London radio stations. The 2
presenters I was listening to were talking a lot about Snakepit and GNR.
Finally, they played a Snakepit song. They said, 'Here's a song by
SLASH's Snakepit, and it's simply called 'SLASH's Snakepit''so naturally
I thought, 'What the hell? There's no song called SLASH's Snakepit!'
because obviously it was not on the debut album. They played it, and it
literally blew me away; it rocked my socks off, man! I just wanted to
know how these guys managed to get a copy of it, why wasn't it on the
album and is there any way I can get hold of it? Thanks for everything,
SLASH, your music truly makes life worth living!"
Two days to go and SLASH will be in Kentucky. He's scheduled for May
2 and 3 there, and he's listed on the Derby website as one of the
Celebrities Attending.
SLASH and Perla have finish line seats, a champagne lunch on race day and
are going to a sparkling charity ball (benefits Diabetes Research). If you
see him, let us know! Those of us not going can volunteer to babysit
London although he may just go and see the horsies.
By now, you must have heard that MTV is taping another mtvICON shows.
The last was for Aerosmith, and SLASH was in the audience. The band this
time is Metallica, and SLASH is scheduled for a spoken tribute. The taping
is May 3, but SLASH may do his early as the Kentucky Derby waits for
no one. Other speakers are Aerosmith, Staind, Linkin Park, Blink-182,
Lisa Marie Presley(??), Lara Flynn Boyle, Sean Penn and Jim Breuer. The
show will air on Tuesday, May 6 at 9pm ET/PT. Various artists will be in
the audience while Korn, Limp Bizkit, Sum 41 and Avril Lavigne will
perform. Could be a good evening! Thanks to Aaron who sent in some
information on the evening and to Brian who pointed out the SLASH schedule
problem! Let's see..finish line seats at the Derby or attend the full
taping? What should SLASH do? We think he got it right.
CONTEST! How would you like to hear SLASH play the smash Yardbird
tune "Over, Under, Sideways, Down" in your car, office or house? We
can't send the man himself, but we'd like you to win a copy of the
newly released Yardbird album, Birdland. This album is a prize
not just for the SLASH appearance but also for the other guitar
stars on other tracks. It's a wonderful album. The nice people on
the Yardbirds team are making three prizes available, and the
advertisement is just for this site. It's a drawing, so you needn't
be a Yardbirds expert to enter. The first prize is a book signed by
Yardbirds Chris Dreja and Jim McCarty plus the CD. Two second prizes
of the CD will also be awarded. The contest will end one month from
today. Why not go over and enter now? The Yardbirds people have taken
care of having a special form for entries, and they will draw the winners
and ship the prizes. And if you don't win, get out and buy a copy! Here's
the address for entering:
Vicki got her copy of the June 2003 issue of Spin magazine. As
promised there is a small SLASH article. On the cover it says "75 Sleazy
Moments in Rock" with Sid and Nancy on the cover. SLASH is not part of
the sleazy moments (we can hear you saying, "WHAT???"); his article is
called "Who Should Replace Axl Rose?" Vicki says there's a small pic of
SLASH wearing those round blue shades. Spin's suggestions were
tongue-in-cheek and included Michael Jackson, Rivers Cuomo, Dr. Teeth,
Courtney Love, Fred Durst and Eartha Kitt. Of this bunch, we'd give it
to Eartha Kitt who can tear the roof off arenas. To see what SLASH said,
we have to get the magazine. Vicki did not reveal SLASH's responses.
Thanks, Vicki!
Back to Brazil's GNR convention this summer. Ana let us know this is
happening in July in Rio de Janeiro. They are having four tribute bands -
one for SLASH's Snakepit and three for GNR. They are doing a tribute to
SLASH as it is his birthday that month and because they just love him.
Ana sent us some web site addresses for you to use to get more information:
Gunner Convention Information
GNR Devotion Fan Club
"SLASH" in the cover bands
Thanks, Ana! Keep us posted.
SLASH was on the MTV show, 25 Greatest Video Stars, that aired this
weekend. Billed as a SLASH interview, it was a little short. We expected
a longer talk, but it didn't happen. Slash basically said three things:
no one knows what these videos are about; the most important thing he
liked about them all was that the band was actually in them;
his favorite GNR video is "Paradise City" because it's live. SLASH was
seated and wearing his top hat. Duff was on also in a snazzy leather
jacket. Guns N'Roses was in the #6 slot, and thanks to everyone who
voted.
There was a much better show on Canadian TV this weekend called
Power Hour. Brandon's from Ontario, and after a long evening at the
bars getting GNR played so he can get up and dance, he came home and
snapped on the TV and there was SLASH on Much More Music, the Power
Hour show. Brandon missed some of this, but he watched as they turned
to Duff. Duff said it was painful watching the GNR name get destroyed
this past year. He was sympathetic about Axl and said he felt badly
for him. Duff said when he left it was time to leave because he had
a feeling GNR was heading in the wrong direction. At SLASH's request,
they played the "Don't Cry" video because he said he wanted to play
one of the trilogy of expensive videos. Duff requested "It's So Easy".
Our friend Sam was there on business and saw the whole show. He said
Duff and SLASH were announced as co-hosts, and the entire hour was
interviews and videos. They talked about The Project's search for a
new singer; and Duff described his solo efforts. The Much More Music
site says there is one more chance to see this in the near future. It
will be on again at 11pm PT on Thursday, May 1 (2am Friday in the east).
If anyone tapes it, the webmaster would be very interested in having
a copy.
The Project is more and more in the news on the music web sites. Krishna
saw the full article on the Rolling Stone site, and Ray saw it in their
newsletter. Rolling Stone describes the singer situation - Weiland looks
like another front runner and ties that to Weiland's singing on the cover
of Pink Floyd's "Money" in the remake of the movie The Italian Job.
The song will be on the soundtrack. The movie is scheduled for a May release,
and the soundtrack should be out May 26. Weiland's manager was asked about
his plans to go into rehab again, but he said he has not talked to him
recently. He did say that this was not the end of STP. If you missed the
full individual discussions of all this in last week's News, here's a chance
to get a good summary from the Rolling Stone site at
The Project Summary.
Tiffany sent in another site with a very good slant on what's going on,
and it's at Undercover Media.
Even more on The Project! Ollie is in the UK, and he sent in an article
about yet another person approached by The Project for an audition. The
vocalist is Mike Patton (ex-Faith No More) who fronts Tomahawk, and he apparently passed!
Tomahawk is a rock band with touches of experimental pop according
to guitarist Duane Denison. Their band sounds like a lot of fun, and
it may be that Patton just wanted to work with his own band a lot more
than he wanted to join The Project. Thanks, Ollie! By the way, the
demo count is up to over 600 now.
Final reminder that MTV debuts the program "25 Greatest Video Stars"
tomorrow, Saturday, April 26 at 1pm. If you voted for the greatest
video artist on their site awhile back, then you helped push Guns N'Roses
to #6!!! And as the local paper said, "and they haven't had a new video
on MTV
in 10 years." When you're that good, a short catalog is enough. FYI,
Madonna is #1. Here's the complete list:
1. Madonna
2. Eminem
3. Janet Jackson
4. Britney Spears
5. Janet Jackson
6. Guns N'Roses
7. Michael Jackson
8. TLC
9. 'N Sync
10.Mariah Carey
11.Red Hot Chili Peppers
12.Aerosmith
13.Missy Elliott
14.Nirvana
15.Bjork
16.Jennifer Lopez
17.Foo Fighters
18.Beastie Boys
19.Nine Inch Nails
20.Dr. Dre
21.U2
22.Beck
23.Busta Rhymes
24.P.Diddy
25.Limp Bizkit
The Top 25 was determined by the internet fans who took time to visit the
MTV site and vote. SLASH and Duff did their interview at the studio
where
The Project has had longstanding space. If you're taping, the
show is 90 minutes long. If you miss it, it's on again on Sunday.
See Wednesday's news below for complete information. Pretty cool to
think of all the US Guns fans parked on the couch watching SLASH!
One other related thing...the picture above comes from a much larger
popup on the slashonline.com site. It's great!
After the nice GNR mention above in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
there was an unpleasant one a few pages later. Flaming Lips are in town.
These guys won the Grammy that SLASH was nominated for. They are a
psychedelic pop group that may have dropped too much acid. They bring
out on stage 20 people dressed as animals and robots wander around the
floor. So, here's their take on the Grammy awards where Best Rock
Instrumental was decided. If this ever happened that way, then we wouldn't know
the old shy and humble SLASHer well. They say that their winning surprised
them as well as SLASH (and the rest of the world). Steven Drozd recalls
the ceremony as: SLASH was sitting two rows in front of us. And I
noticed that as they started to call out the award category, he started
scooting toward the aisle - like, getting up out of his seat and moving
toward the aisle, like he was getting ready to walk up there. I thought
that he knew beforehand he had won. Then they called our name out and
we ran up. We grabbed our award and ran off. And ... SLASH?! What the
f*ck was that dude thinking?" Here's what he was thinking...the award
had not yet been called, and he wanted a cigarette. Bad timing but
SLASH is a nice guy, not an egotistical jerk. Get these people right
out of town. They are playing at M, the venue where SLASH got too sick
to appear. May Flaming Lips have the same success there. We fired off
email to the entertainment editor.
Brazilian Ana Cristina sent more information on the summer GNR fan
convention there. Ana runs the GN'R Devotion Fan Club which is
organizing The First Brazilian Gunner Convention in Rio de Janeiro
to be held in July. At the convention there will be a Tribute to
Slash "because we love Slash so much and he was born in July, month
of the convention". Ana invites you to check their web site for
information about the event. Ana says Brazilians love SLASH; and to
them, he is unforgettable. She promises to send us photos and notes
when the convention ends. Thanks, Ana. Ana will send us a convention
information web site url soon. Michele wrote from
Sao Paulo with additional news on the convention. The best SLASH tribute
guy from Brazil will be playing, and Michele says he is the best
live attraction of the event! This "SLASH" is described as almost a
SLASH clone...plays fantastic guitar, same face, same body, same piercings
and tats. (Does he have Perlita and London yet?!). Michele says everyone
in Brazil knows about him, and he'll play with a GNR tribute band as
well as the Snakepit Tribute band. (If he sings, let's get him in The
Project so we'd have twins!). Michele will also send some web site urls.
Thanks, Michele! We've had many requests from South America for information,
and this really helps. We'll make sure SLASH is aware of the convention,
too!
Here's one of our favorite US Guns tribute bands. Gerard is "SLASH"
in Mr. Brownstone, and he asked if we could mention a couple of big
shows. We are a little late on this one, but you can still make it
to see them. The band is back in Harper's Ferry, Boston tonight and tomorrow night (4/25 and 26)
doing a two night stand and appearing at Bentley College 4/26 in the
afternoon. They'll be back in NYC in June. Their big news is they landed
a slot at the Bonnaroo Festival in Tennessee this June. 3 days, over
100 thousand people! James Brown, Neil Young and Flaming Lips are also
on the bill. Gerard, watch out for Flaming Lips! This band is in our
Fan Music section, and we have been rooting hard for them all along.
Get your band back together, and get going! Thanks, "SLASH"!
This Saturday, April 26, SLASH will appear on an MTV show called
25 Greatest Video Stars (in some places on their site they list
it as 40 Greatest Video Stars). The show begins at 1pm ET and runs
for 90 minutes. This is the debut of this show. An MTV description
says that "the program will profile the range and impact of the work
that made these artists stand out amongst their peers and raise the
creative level of music videos". Early Saturday afternoon you might
be sleeping or doing laundry or running errands. Here are the repeat
dates: Sunday, 4/27 at 2pm and 8pm ET. Monday you can wake up to
SLASH and see the show at 11:30am ET. If you have MTV2, you can also
catch it on 4/29 at 5:30pm ET and Sunday, 5/4 at 8pm ET. Reruns will
no doubt be shown at other future times. SLASH is on talking about
Guns N'Roses who made some of the best videos ever! Izzy has serious
concerns about the money spent on the videos and never did show up
for the Illusions ones. SLASH and Duff were bored stiff making these,
but the end result was always something unique and interesting. Send
in your thoughts on the show when you wake up.
Did you get your copy of the Yardbirds' Birdland yet? The album
was released yesterday and should be available everywhere now. Go right
to track 10 and hear SLASH do "Over, Under, Sideways, Down"! He sounds
fantastic. SLASH does a long outro, and it's what we've been wanting!
The Yardbirds people are going to have a contest for people from this
site. Details on this coming soon.
Have you heard of the DNA Dolls? Their frontman had an audition for the
Project last month. His name's Marc Eden, and in a few sentences on the
band's website, he described the experience. SLASH approached him and
asked him to write lyrics for three songs. Marc was given the music;
and at some point he recorded with SLASH, Duff, Izzy and Matt. The
website says the songs will appear on their website, but this is doubtful
given SLASH's reaction the last time that happened. Nicole promises to
keep an eye on the site and let us know if anything appears. Thanks,
Nicole!
Camp Freddy is going to be on TV again. SLASH won't be there this time as
he's just too busy, but we'll tell you about this in case you can make it.
They are taping the TV show Last Call With Carson Daly, and Camp Freddy
will appear. The taping is May 10 at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. Tickets
are free. If you're interested in reserving a ticket, there's information
on the Camp Freddy Site.
From Vicki in West Virginia comes a message about the June 2003 issue of
Guitar Player (Jack White on the cover). Vicki says there's a
good article on the Yardbirds on page 45, "Flight of the Phoenix", with
a nice SLASH mention. The article is subtitled "Chris Dreja, Gypie
Mayo, and a Flock of Guitar Players Relaunch the Yardbirds". In a
section called "Chris Dreja on Birdland's Guest Guns", here's what
Chris says about SLASH:
"Over, Under, Sideways, Down". SLASH - "We always had SLASH in mind for
this song - which is why we added an elongated end section. We wanted to
let him crawl all over the outro and do his thing. He's just a great
rock and roll player. He's very honest and he has heart."
Well said! Vicki said the only downside...no pictures. Thanks, Vicki!
If you belong to SLASH's Fan Club, the newsletter is out now. It's a good
summary of what SLASH has been doing over the past few months, such as
the Grammy nomination. SLASH shows off his new tattoos, and we discovered
that the rose tattoo on his left forearm says Perlita, a pet name for
wife Perla. And the one for Baby London is huge...it goes from side to
side near his waist. Very interesting articles. There's a wonderful
picture of SLASH holding London in his arms and both are sleeping. New
merchandise is a Snakepit baseball-type cap. For information on joining
SLASH's fan club, check the company's web site at:
Several fans have written in saying they've seen a rerun of the TV
show Trading Spaces where Teddy Andreadis gets his living room done,
and SLASH shows up to check the progress. Teddy told us that episode
was shot the day after he came home from 3 months of touring in Europe
with Alice Cooper. Can you say exhausted? Teddy says he would start to
conk out at 2:30 every day, and the director had to administer coffee.
This episode runs about every couple of weeks. Back to music, Teddy says
he is still playing with Alice Cooper, and he'll be touring with Billy
Bob Thornton! Billy Bob will open for Willie Nelson in two weeks. Thanks,
Teddy, for the information.
In other news about
Teddy, we pried this out of a source close to the band. Teddy was
working with The Project! A new movie coming out in May, "The Italian
Job", will have a song from The Project. It's a cover of the Pink Floyd
classic "Money", and Scott Weiland did the vocals. There's also word
that a video may be done. Hopefully, the SLASHer will have a big part, and
maybe Baby London could have a small part.
This evening at 7pm on VH1 is a repeat of the show, "How Stars Get Hot",
a show about those off camera people who work to make the stars look good.
SLASH makes an appearance with one of his designers, Agatha Blois. Ms.
Blois is described by VH1 as "a hip, mega-stylist". She likes to work
with leather, and three of her star clients are SLASH, Steven Tyler and
Sheryl Crow. She says that Sheryl Crow is her perfect person to work with
although she loves making things for them all. SLASH was there in a good
mood. He had a smoke and tried on a pair of leather jeans Ms. Blois had
made for him. There are several designers and stars, so SLASH isn't on
the whole time, but you do get to see him getting hot! This show will
be repeated on 4/25 at midnight ET and 4/27 at 2:30pm ET.
Thanks to Norm who sent the show description in, and
Sandy who saw it, too.
From Paulo in Brazil comes word of a Gunner convention! If you're in
South America, get ready to rock. The convention will be held on July
19 and 20 in Rio de Janeiro. So far, none of the Gunners themselves are
going, but there will be four cover bands there. Three bands will
do Guns N'Roses songs, and one will do SLASH's Snakepit. Paulo says
rare video will be shown and rare tracks will be played. As Paulo says,
take your vacation in Brazil this summer and go to the convention.
With the original band gone, The Project not ready yet and the new
GNR seemingly collapsed, this is a great way to hear some Guns music!
Thanks, Paulo!
Last time we told you about a musical, Paradise City that is being
performed in Edmonton CA. It's GNR music but styles have been changed.
Jay went to the musical, and he sent in a really complete review. Jay
says that if you are in the area and have a chance to see it, it really
is worth it...especially for GNR fans! Thanks, Jay!
Here's some news on Izzy. He still hasn't released the album with
Duff and SLASH, but he is doing a new album right now. Since Duff
is tied up with The Project and can't play bass, Izzy will do the
bass tracks himself. There's no official release date as yet. This
information comes from Izzy himself to his webmaster, Markus and
Nicole. Thanks for sharing! They also sent us Izzy's email address.
It's izzyemail999@aol.com. We're told that Izzy will try to answer
at least a few emails each month.
Due to the Good Friday Holiday,
the News will not be published Friday, April 18. We'll see you again
on Monday, April 21. Please enjoy the rest of the site while we're
busy dying Easter eggs! We'd like to send holiday greetings to our
Jewish friends celebrating Passover.
And to the Christian friends, Happy Easter! And especially to those
celebrating their first Easter, Baby London, and Moms and Dads,
especially SLASH and Perla:
Last time we told you the server where the SLASH Videos section lives was
down. Randy, major SLASH fan and technowizard, managed to get it going
again, so the videos are available! Thanks so much, Randy!
One of the best things about SLASH's Snakepit was the band members.
We liked every one of them. We spent a lot of time talking to Matt
Laug. He's funny and just so nice! Recently we wrote to Matt and
asked what he's been up to in 2003. As usual, it's a lot! He did
4 tracks with Melissa Etheridge last week. Matt says that 3 are for
her new record, and one is for the forthcoming Dolly Parton tribute
album. Matt's going to do some live shows with Melissa this summer,
and he's promised to send us the dates. Matt's friend, Steve Plunket,
is lead singer for Autograph. Autograph had a big hit in the 80's,
"Turn Up the Radio". Steve has a German record deal, and Matt is
playing on it with a great bass player, Lance Morrison. It may only
be available in Europe (or through the net!). Matt also did a record
for an artist named Jake Simpson. He was happy to get to play on a song
written by Diane Warren who wrote "Don't Want To Miss A Thing" for
Aerosmith. Jake's song has that same big ballad feeling. Matt says,
"I hope all'z good with you. Tell everyone hello!" Hi, Matt!
Shari does that wonderful Black Velvet Magazine in the UK, and
she subscribes to a music email newsletter, CMU Daily which had
a mention of SLASH concerning The Project. Noting that the address for
applications and demos is now on SLASH's Official site (slashonline.org),
they listed the big names who are up for consideration. Sebastian Bach,
Scott Weiland, etc. Every mention of the need for a vocalist brings in
more and more demos. Also, Shari reported that Steve Ludwin, frontman
for Little Hell was flown to LA to work with The Project. Steve says
they worked on 7 songs, but he was not asked to join them permanently.
If you'd like to check that out, Shari saw this in Kerrang!,
issue 951, dated April 19. Thanks for the UK update, Shari!
Speaking of ex-Gunners, here's some Steven Adler news. Steven's band,
Suki Jones, has these gigs set up:
April 30...The Pound...San Francisco, CA
May 1......The Edge....Palo Alto, CA
May 2......The Roadhouse...Sacramento, CA
May 3......Bourbon Street..Concorde, CA
With more to come.
Our faithful contributor Vicki sent in some SLASH sightings in magazines.
The June 3 issue of Metal Edge with Godsmack on the cover has
a picture of SLASH and Duff at the Hard Rock Vault in Orlando, FL. See
page 39. People's April 21 issue (with Jessica Lynch on cover)
has a print mention of SLASH (no picture) on page 152 in a paragraph
titled "Starway to Heaven". It's Gina Gershon's take on playing with
Camp Freddy (and SLASH and Duff) in NYC. Can't resist sharing this with
you:
"Strapping on a guitar to front an all-girl band in the upcoming indie
flick Prey for Rock & Roll was a real kick for Gina Gershon. 'Performing
live music is the most fun I've had in a long time,' says Gershon, 41,
who previously dabbled in folk guitar and the mouth harp. Though she
sings in the movie, her riffs weren't recorded, so the actress indulged
her performance jones by playing a guest gig at a benefit in New York
City with onetime Red Hot Chili Pepper Dave Navarro and Guns N' Roses
alums Slash and Matt Sorum. 'They were dream bandmates to have,' says
Gershon, whose set included a David Bowie tune. 'There's something really
sexy about turning around and seeing that you're onstage with these hot,
sweaty, tattooed guys who are great musicians. It's like, Oh my God, I've
gone to heaven.'"
Sam writes from London that there's a reality show on there, a celebrity
Survivor show where the celebrities are pretty low on the list. The
ads for the second season shows the jungle where the series takes place,
and "Welcome to the Jungle" is sung by koala bear puppets. A really
raw song sung by cute puppets. Weird! Thanks, Sam!
Be advised that the server that houses the SLASH videos is currently
down. It is being worked on, and we hope it will be back within the
week. Our very generous fan, Randy in Texas, gave the videos a home
a couple years ago when it looked like we would have to take them
down due to financial considerations. There's a message to this effect
when you click SLASH Videos on the Fan Menu. When the server is up,
we'll be back in business. We can never thank Randy enough for helping
us out. Best of luck with this, Randy...if you find some long red hair
in there, we may have found the problem.
After that sad story, cheer up with this SLASH picture that Ed sent in.
As you can see, SLASH was doing his peace entertainment thing on South
Park! It was their 100th Anniversary. SLASH just loves this show. Chaz
also saw the show and said it had to do with the war in Iraq where one
part of the town was against the war and the other side was for the war.
Toward the end the side that were the war protesters did a rock song,
and the guitar player in the background was SLASH! Auslin added that
the SLASH character had a familiar looking tophat. Thanks to all who
sent that in and especially Ed for that great picture.
MTV2 is having another contest. Here's what they say about it:
"This time we need you to help us pick the 22 Greatest Bands of the last 22 years.
Whether it's longevity, chemistry, ass-whomping songs or God-given talent, you make the call.
It's your chance to be a part of MTV2 Presents 22 Greatest: Bands, the show where your vote
counts." Guns N'Roses is there (original band pictured), and they are going to have stiff
competition from bands like Aerosmith, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, NIN, etc. So get over
there and vote at 22 Greatest Bands.
Thanks to Italo, Mark and Peter who sent this in.
The new DVD about Guns N'Roses, Guns N'Roses:Sex N' Drugs N' Rock N' Roll
has been released, and you can buy a copy at Amazon and any number of sites on the web.
Completists will buy it anyway; but if you're watching your cash flow, you should give this
one a miss. We were disappointed that it is unauthorized so no music is on the DVD. There
are also no band members. The DVD is a collection of interviews with people who have
very little to do with the band...example: ticket sellers. So there is a lot of talk about the
band, but anyone of you could have done it better. SLASH is trying to get this off the
market because it is just such a ripoff. At least check a review or two before you place
an order. Here's one that really looks at the DVD in detail:
If you live near Edmonton in Canada, how about seeing a new GNR musical, called Paradise
City? Three women have changed some GNR classics into show tunes. The musical runs
through April 20 at the Varscona Theater. The plot is a modernized version of a classic Mob
film set in the 30s. A wide-eyed farm boy hits town, falls for a woman with a past and comes
under the control of a sinister Mob boss. At the end there is gospel singing about going to
Paradise City. The numbers are changed with SCOM now a swing number. You Could Be
Mine is a torch song, and so on. Sounds like it could be pretty strange but good! Here's
more information:
Mark has some very good news about a countdown of the 80s by Triple M, the Sydney, Australia, rock station.
Guns only had 2 songs in the list, "Patience" and "Sweet Child O' Mine", but guess what?
"Sweet Child O' Mine" was #1!! Some very wise people in Australia. Now, Mark says the same
radio station is doing a countdown of the top 105 albums of all time for next weekend. In order
to push the Gunners up there on the list, Mark would like you to come over and vote at
Top 105 Albums of All Time.
See you there, Mike!
Not only were SLASH fans happy with his being on the Jimmy Kimmel Show
Live; but Jimmy's happy, too. Thanks to everyone that watched because
SLASH's live show with The Project on Wednesday brought down the
house and helped Jimmy's show score one of their highest ratings! Cheers,
SLASH! He said he learned to be an extrovert that week on the show, and
he did a great job co-hosting. Where he really shook everyone was his
live performance. Being up there with his buddies really makes a difference.
One of SLASH's favorite bands is AC/DC, and it blew him away to tour with
them with Snakepit. VH1 is preparing a special one hour show on
AC/DC's Back In Black called "The Ultimate Album". SLASH was
interviewed by VH1 on the band and the album, and this project should
air in July. Watch out for this one!
Here's another TV program SLASH will be in on! MTV is doing a show that
profiles the range and impact of the work that made 25 artists stand
out amongst their peers and raised the creative level of music videos.
This is a 90 minute special scheduled for APRIL 26! Coming up soon.
The show features SLASH's insights on the Guns N'Roses video collection.
Guns made the Top 25 list, but the order of the countdown will be
determined by MTV online voters. If you see that countdown poll, let us
know the url! Let's push Guns up to the top. And don't forget to set the
VCRs.
Here's something for May/June, too. Spin magazine interviews SLASH
for their upcoming June issue. The topic is...who should be The Project's
singer. Spin presents a list of candidates and asks SLASH for his
comments. The article leans toward the comic side and is not to be taken
seriously. Good...SLASH is great at being funny! Let us know when you see
this one.
Our dahlin' boy has accepted an invitation for wife Perla and himself to the
Kentucky Derby on Friday and Saturday, May 2
and 3. SLASH and Perla will attend the glamorous weekend festivities
that includes finishline seats and a champagne luncheon at the Derby
races. They'll also be going to a star-studded fund raising event
for the 16 million people suffering from diabetes. If you're going, you'll
know just where to look for SLASH. No word on Baby London's attendance!
M. Smith was at the Cat Club on Sunset, and someone mentioned that
SLASH has been there a couple times in the past six months at the
Thursday night All Star Jam. If you're in the area, it's definitely
worth stopping in! Thanks! A similar note came from Mbadnardacsi.
Ratt had a show on April 4 at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Teddy
Andreadis played keyboards for the first band, Roxie 77. Teddy revealed
that not only is he in touch with SLASH, but SLASH was at the bar!
SLASH was there, and he was very polite when congratulated on his
appearance on the Kimmel show. SLASH was at the bar just a little while
and then floated off to wherever the VIPs go. Thank you! Keep your
eyes open, and don't be afraid to ask!
Auditions for The Project continue, and demos keep rolling in. So far,
there is no deadline for submission. Rumors continue to float around
especially regarding Baz. Baz is certainly in the running but has not
yet been selected. Meanwhile, he is keeping very busy working on his
first DVD and is about to record some demos for his second solo CD.
Baz has been jamming with the guys but is working hard on other things, too.
We're told that Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots)is trying out with The Project, too.
If you get the Izzy Stradlin newsletter from izzy-stradlin.com, there
are a couple of Project related errors. First is claiming that Baz already
has the vocalist slot and second, offering a video for downloading that is
supposed to be The Project in rehearsal. Actually, it is the 1998 video that
Matt Sorum put together, "Drum Licks and Tricks". The newsletter has some
good information on getting Izzy's albums.
One of SLASH's guitar heroes lost his main guitar in a divorce. SLASH
bought it sometime later from a dealer and gave it back on his hero's
50th birthday. Who is it? Joe Perry! Here's an interesting item on Joe.
He has come out with a brand of hot sauce called Joe Perry's Rock Your
World Boneyard Brew Hot Sauce. You can get a personalized autographed
bottle, a regular bottle and pick for $250, a non-personalized autographed
bottle, a regular bottle and pick for $100 or the regular bottle and a
pick for $8! Way to go, Joe! For ordering information, go to
www.ashleyfood.com. Now, what could Slash sell? His own whisky or
cigarette brand? Sunglasses? Come on, SLASH!
There are some interesting possibilities on TV. On 4/14 at 10pm on VH1 is
the show "How the Stars Get Hot" about the stylists who get the stars ready
for appearances. This one says it stars SLASH. Anyone see this before? It
repeats 4/15 at 11pm ET. Tomorrow's an interesting one on MTV2 at 5pm.
It's called "The Definitive" and is a collection of the most recognizable
guitar riffs of all time. SLASH is on this one. It repeats 4/13 at 10pm and
4/14 at 11am ET. On 4/15 at 12pm ET, VH1 repeats "100 Greatest Love Songs"
with GNR in there doing "Patience". If you haven't seen this next one,
try to catch it....SLASH is on for quite some time being interviewed
as part of the show "Sunset Strip" brought to you by E! at 3pm ET on 4/15.
If US TV doesn't appeal, head for Nepal. Deepika Lath, a huge Nepalese
fan of SLASH, reported seeing for the first time the "Paradise City"
video. MTV ASIA had it on. Deepika says it was a lot of fun to watch
even though it was on at 1am. At the end of the video, it says Geffen
Records, 1988. This is a real oldie, but everyone seems to like it!
In talking to someone who was there that day, they claimed the crowd
scenes were from another show as GNR didn't have that large an audience.
Well, they looked like GNR fans with all those banners! Thank you, Deepika!
The Yardbirds sound great on their album Birdland. SLASH did a track
for them. While SLASH is not touring with them, you UK Yardbirds fans might
want to the Jazz, Blues and Music Festival in England on April 19. The
festival is in Nantwich which is just 20 miles away from Stoke-on-Trent.
Try to find SLASH's home there! Wonder if they sell SLASH souvenirs? The
Yardbirds will perform at Civic Hall. www.nantwich-jazz.com for further
information. If you get there, maybe you can chat with the Yardbirds
about SLASH!
Philip's from the UK; and, no doubt, has visited Stoke-on-Trent many times!
Actually, what Philip wanted to say was that MTV there ran the Ultrasound
program about band breakups. SLASH did a quick interview about GNR. They
mentioned Axl's new band and said maybe Chinese Democracy will come
out in our lifetime. Also mentioned...SLASH and The Project. Thanks, Philip!
In the March 2002 issue of N Touch, there's a short article on "What's
a sign of a true friendship?". A true friend, according to the article, is
a "refrigerator friend", a friend comfortable enough with you to raid your
refrigerator without asking. SLASH was asked to name a fridge friend of
his, and Matt Sorum was his (although they call him "Mad Storm" for some
reason!) SLASH says, "Mad Storm, my drummer, is the only one I know who
does that. He takes whatever he wants - he takes anything you can eat
quickly." The article says for better health we all need more fridge
friends; we'll be less stressed and feel better. SLASH has one. How about
you? To the person who sent this in awhile back, thanks!
Picking up the April 2003 issue of Maxim Presents Blender (Eminem
on the cover), Vicki found a couple of good SLASH mentions. On page 26,
there's a tiny picture of SLASH and Ron Wood with this headline, "Pop
Star Must Have - Cigarettes! Smoking is so now! It's fashionable and
makes you look cool. Cough. Splutter, Bleargh!" Vicki says the picture
is so small, but she believes SLASH has a cigarette in his mouth, his
left arm around Ronnie and is attempting to light Ron's cigarette with
his right hand. Others shown smoking are Marianne Faithful, Ms. Dynamite
and Britney Spears. And just when you were trying to quit...
Another mention in Blender that Vicki found is on page 64. In
the category of "The Best of Pop Metal" is Appetite for Destruction.
The article is "The 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die". AFD's
category is subtitled "All the riffs and mascara you'll ever need".
Other CDs listed here are Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, Boston's
Boston, Def Leppard's Pyromania, Foreigner's The Very
Best and Beyond. Motley Crue's Decade of Decadence, Queen's
Greatest Hits, I and II and Van Halen. We only have six of these,
so we have to hang on a little longer.
The Blabbermouth site comes through with another SLASH mention. Dee
Snyder (Twisted Sister) was in Orlando, FL in January for the grand
opening of The Hard Rock's Vault. The Vault is the Hard Rock's museum.
Rock stars were invited for the opening, and Dee went with his wife
Suzette. They had a great time hanging with SLASH and Duff, Brian
Johnson, Pantera and Disturbed band members, Simon Kirk from Bad
Company, Little Steven from the E Street Band (and Sopranos!), Bo
Diddley, Nikki Sixx. Dee says it was a who's who list of rock. The
thing he found most interesting was that they had all caught up to
him: they're clean, sober and married with kids. Dee laughed that
he is now thinking of taking up heroin! No, he said they had a great
time because they are all on the same page. Glad to hear old wild
child SLASH's name included!
SLASH replies, "Simrin, I don't know what they were playing either.
Maybe you can find out and let ME know!"
Here's one without a name. "SLASH, I was wondering what type of guitar
strings you use on your acoustic guitars?"
SLASH replies, "Ernie Ball Medium/Light Acoustic Strings".
The Project has speculation whirling around it again. Sebastian Bach has
been let go from his title roll in the Jesus Christ Superstar tour.
To his credit, Sebastian was almost immediately forthcoming about the
reasons and his future plans in a statement on his official web site,
SebastianBach.com.
An artistic difference led to Sebastian's dismissal; Sebastian felt the
need to keep a big rock number in the show, and the producers wanted it
out. Sebastian is an avowed rocker, and he has a number of plans for
pursuing that course. The Project speculation centers on these words
from Baz:
"All of this has made me realize that it is time for me to follow my heart & create some brand new
original rock & roll that will completely blow you away . I have been working with one of the
biggest bands in the world & will now persue[sic] that collaboration with full force. "
Baz fans report that they can't remember a band like that except possibly the future success of
The Project. It does sound as if Baz is going to pursue the vocalist position with all he's got.
He lists other personal recordings he wants to make, too.
This doesn't mean Baz is hired. When SLASH announces it, then we will know for sure. As
of yesterday, no one at The Project knew about Baz's difficulties. We were told that no one
could quite believe it because Baz was so terrific in the musical. If Baz gets a callback, he's
going back to finish the tour, so things can change. It really sounds as though he is super
interested in The Project...in case anyone had any doubts.
Have you seen the new "Help Wanted" ad on SLASH's artist site? If you're
still planning to apply for the vocalist slot, take note. There's an
address that is fairly recent (no longer the fan club address which was
sinking under the weight of demo tapes) and information on online
submission. The new address to send a demo tape/cd, phone number and
postal address (not just email) to is:
Slash
13636 Ventura Blvd., #434
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
You can also send your demo online as an attachment to a mail message. It
should be in the MP3 format. Send mail to submit@slashonline.com. Please make sure
the file is virus-free, no longer than 2 minutes or 3 MB in size. Only
one submission per singer. If you need this information again, it's at
Vocalist Submissions. It is a popup
on the first page...underneath the Jimmy Kimmel popup.
Best of luck.
For fans of Kelly Shaefer who wrote asking what he's doing now that
he is not shortlisted for The Project.
Kelly was rumoured to be the new lead vocalist for The Project in
October. Later, the announcement came that while he was a front runner, he didn't have the job as
yet. Kelly's out of the running now, and has been looking for a band to team up with. A tryout
with The Drowning Pool was not successful, but he's looking at some solo interests in the meantime.
If you saw SLASH on the Kimmel show or elsewhere recently, you may have spotted that large new
tattoo on his left forearm. It's a big rose with wife Perla's name. It's on the inside of his arm, so when
he plays, it's easy to see. All who try to go SLASH tat for tat will want to check this out although you
may want to put your own significant other's name there. Perla might not mind, but the Slasher might
be upset! We're told that SLASH has another new one! This is on his lower back and it's the name
of his beloved firstborn, London, in script. First to send in a picture of this one gets an Ain't Life
Grand cd!
Recovered yet from SLASH on TV every night? Jimmy Kimmel's name will be
instantly familiar to SLASH fans from now on. Taking over as cohost from
SLASH is that ex-con and boxer, Mike Tyson. SLASH on for 2 weeks would
be a better choice! If you taped one show or all of them, would you please
check the want ads on the Sale/Trade section (link above). There are so
many fans looking for copies of one to five shows. We are personally making
a set. Please try to help out! You can always post your tape wants here.
Thanks! And if you are looking for The Project songs online, we know
where some are. Their locations are in the March News Archives. At the end of the
news is a table for 2003. Click March and up will come all the news for
the month. The links are in there, near the top. Both "Paradise City"
and "(Rock)Superstar" are available for viewing or downloading. Thanks
to the fans who took the time and made the space for these.
A little more on the SLASH shows...Steve (or "DTUD"!!) says it was awesome
being at the show that week. He even got to be on TV a few times...ah, and
you didn't let us know you'd be there! Best thing: SLASH himself handed
Steve a pick. SLASH didn't do a fan session (he says because it was
Jimmy's show not his); but Adam Day was buzzing around the equipment, and
Steve got to talk to him for almost an hour. Wow! Brian always manages
to come up with good information. He says that SLASH did join Camp Freddy
for a couple of songs on Jimmy Kimmel's show. Unfortunately for those
at home, the onair portion was over. Scream! Camp Freddy did five songs,
and SLASH played on the last two: "Whole Lotta Love" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog".
Clearly the best thing is being in the audience with your vcr rolling at
home. Thanks, Brian and Steve!
What's next for us? The Yardbirds album, Birdland will be released
April 22. SLASH makes a guest appearance on the track "Over, Under,
Sideways, Down" which is killer! The album is a feast for guitar players
and fans. Guitar heroes Brian May, SLASH, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Jeff
"Skunk" Baxter, and Steve Lukather are all on the album, citing the
Yardbirds as one of their influences. This is the first Yardbird album
since 1976, and only a couple of the original band are present, but it
still rocks. The entire "Over, Under, Sideways, Down" can be found
online. SLASH is wonderful; and at the end, he plays a one minute solo.
This streaming audio in Real Audio format is located here:
And here it is in Windows Media format:
There's a cool online ad for the album with SLASH's name listed. This is a
cute one:
Do you like tribute albums? There's another in the works for Guns N'Roses.
The last one was Appetite for Reconstruction. SLASH didn't
like that album. Really, it would be great to have one with more
legendary bands or artists contributing. SLASH won't like this one
either. The label is Law of Inertia Records, and they characterize the
album (so far unnamed) as a hardcore tribute to GNR. Artists performing
will be: Dillinger Escape Plan (SLASH is already cringing), Nora, Every Time
I Die, Shi Hulud, Most Precious Blood, 18 Visions, Since by Man, Haste,
Unearth, Time in Malta and Aaron Turner of Isis. Who are these guys?
No more information is available just now. Maybe they'll think of
something else to do. These bands are just not in the same ballpark as
GNR, and instead of paying tribute, it seems like a publicity grab. It
will be out this fall for the completists.